In brief: ConocoPhillips won’t drill in Arctic in 2014

Anchorage, Alaska – ConocoPhillips Alaska announced Wednesday it will not drill in Arctic waters off Alaska’s northwest shore in 2014.

Environmental groups hailed the decision and said the experience of Royal Dutch Shell PLC in 2012 demonstrated that oil companies are not prepared to drill in the fragile Arctic environment.

ConocoPhillips said uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements are the reason for backing off.

“While we are confident in our own expertise and ability to safely conduct offshore Arctic operations, we believe that more time is needed to ensure that all regulatory stakeholders are aligned,” said ConocoPhillips Alaska President Trond-Erik Johansen in the prepared statement.

Storm whacks Midwest with ice, wet snow

Worthington, Minn. – Storms packing snow, ice and dangerous winds knocked out power in communities throughout the Midwest and prompted Minnesota’s governor to call out the state National Guard on Wednesday to help residents.

Icy weather left thousands of people in Minnesota in the dark, while another storm threatened to dump several inches of wet snow in the state by today. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said the weather was taxing the resources of local and county governments, and he issued an executive order activating the guard.

The town of Worthington was using backup diesel generators to power sections of the city at a time, public utilities manager Scott Hain told Minnesota Public Radio. Roughly a quarter to a third of the city of about 13,000 people was without power at any given time, he said.

The National Weather Service said southwestern Minnesota could get 8 or 9 inches of snow by this morning, while 8 to 14 inches was forecast for a large swath of southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, St. Cloud, Willmar and Mankato starting Wednesday night and into today.